


Two Separate Ways

by CaptainDashingRapscallion



Series: Those Left Behind [1]
Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men Evolution
Genre: 616 History mixed with X-Men: Evolution teams, Alternate Universe, Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Pietro gets enlisted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-19
Updated: 2014-02-19
Packaged: 2018-01-13 00:36:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1206322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainDashingRapscallion/pseuds/CaptainDashingRapscallion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snippets from an AU. Pietro Maximoff, son of Magneto, is called by the High Evolutionary to sign up for a war in the Savage Lands as a repayment for his care of the Maximoff twins when they were born. Determined to repay the debt, Pietro agrees to go, but has to deal with those he leaves behind, his dearest sister, absent father and partner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Separate Ways

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I've had in the woodwork for a while, determined to get it posted in full sooner or later. There's about five or six installments.  
> Title from TobyMac's song, Family, which I listened to a lot while I was writing this.

Staring down at the letter in his hands, the silver-haired speedster wondered how to break the news to the Brotherhood, and more importantly, to his sister. Skimming his eyes over the page again, he heaved a sigh and wished he could change what the cursive script said.

_Damn. Wanda's going to kill me. And if she doesn't... well I'm pretty sure he won't be too happy either. It's not like I can change the High Evolutionary's demands though. I owe him - We all owe him. Without him, Wanda and I would never have been born... at least not safely._

With his mind ticking at speed, he tucked the letter into his already paper-filled pocket, looking around his room once more before dashing out to the grounds. Inside was too cramped for his liking, the load on his mind making the four walled room suffocating. It took him less than a second to get outside and start running, letting his speed echo the chaos in his mind.

  
He raced round and round in circles, till his thoughts held some semblance of order and he felt like he could think straight. Only then did he skid to a halt, surveying the dirt track circle he'd left. Magneto would not be pleased he'd wrecked the training field.

  
"Pietro!"

  
He glanced up to see his sister, Wanda, approaching him across the grounds. Attempting a smile - and failing miserably - he raised a hand in greeting.

  
"Hey Wanda..." he murmured, sighing. "Look we need to talk." he murmured, his gaze directed at the floor as she stopped at his side.

  
"Pietro... what's happened? Does father need to know?" she asked, worry in her voice as he felt her hand rest on his arm.

  
"No! No... don't tell him anything. Yet at least." Pietro protested, scrubbing a hand through his hair. A tug on his arm from Wanda directed him to join her in sitting on the floor, his right hand grasped tightly in both of hers.

  
"I'm listening, brother..." Wanda whispered quietly, her anxiety becoming increasingly obvious. Pietro turned to meet her gaze with what was meant to be a reassuring smile, but simply looked sad.

  
"I got a letter..." he began, his hand starting to shake, before he regained control. "I got _the_ letter. It was **him**. I've been drafted."

  
Wanda's face, which had originally clouded with confusion, shattered into disbelief and anguish, forcing the speedster to look away. "No... not now..."

  
"Afraid so... I've been enlisted by the High Evolutionary. I don't know what for. Probably for foot soldier duty in the Savage Lands, but..."

  
"Pietro what if its the labs?!" Wanda exhaled. "After all we've heard... Father... How could you even consider it?" She held tight onto her brother's hand, and he could almost feel the silent plea for him to turn his gaze back to her and see 'sense'.

  
"I owe him. We owe him. He'll consider our debt paid if I do this. There's no choice. Rather me than you, sister.." he sighed, his tone taking on a bitterness at his lack of control in the situation as he stared at the grass in front of him.

  
"Father won't like it."

  
"Father, will see the necessity. It is his debt as well, technically. And he won't want the High Evolutionary to come to him. I don't particularly want that to happen either." Pietro cut across, shaking his head. Though he knew it was not that simple. If Magneto found out about the gene labs, Wundagore would have an unexpected visitor very quickly.

  
"What about Remy?" Wanda asked quietly, and Pietro blinked. He hadn't even thought of the Cajun in this mess, too preoccupied with what his family would think. Guilt welled up in him just a little at his memory lapse, he owed Remy an explanation too. Though they had been something for quite a while, he couldn't expect the Cajun to wait for him. If he even managed to come back.

  
"I don't know, Wanda. I'll tell him... something..."

  
A silence sat between the siblings, stretching out for longer than either intended. They just couldn't find the words to say to each other. Eventually, Pietro gently prised his hand from between Wanda's and stood.

  
"I have to go, Wanda. Please see that." he murmured, staring out over the horizon, before looking back at her and offering her his hand to help her to her feet. She accepted and then embraced her brother, her grip tight as if it could keep him there.

  
"I don't like this, Pietro. We stick together..." she whispered. He wrapped an arm around her and heaved a deep sigh.

  
"I know, Wanda. But Father will take care of you. Remy too. And I'll be back before you know it." he uttered, steeling himself for the challenge to come. He had to be strong in the coming days for Wanda, so that when he left she did not see a scared boy, but her brave brother, determined to return from military duty.

  
"I'm not worried for me, brother. Father has promised from the start to protect us. We were just starting to bond as a family. Leaving now will only hinder that." Wanda sighed, a silent, sorrowful acceptance in her tone.

  
"No, it won't. Not if we don't let it. I will go to war as Father's son, and I will come back a man he can be proud of..." he murmured, his free hand tugging out one of the papers accompanying his official letter from the High Evolutionary in his pocket, which asked for names and other information to update Pietro's details on his systems. In the name box, he'd written 'Pietro Django Lehnsherr' in his untidy scrawl.

  
"Pietro... will you tell Father..?"

  
He shrugged, contemplating it. He'd worried over the fact ever since he'd written the name down. Magneto had asked them once before to take his name, and he'd reacted poorly, shouting about not forgetting his foster father. But since receiving the letter he'd contemplated his own mortality, and had decided that if he was not going to return, he wanted to go having accepted his true parentage. Whether he'd let Magneto know that was another question.

  
"I don't even know how to tell him I'm leaving. He'll probably be annoyed, even if this time its not my doing." he murmured eventually, releasing his sister and tucking the paper back into his pocket with the letter. The weight of it felt like it was burning his leg.

  
"Make sure you do tell him. Please, Pietro. And tell him about what you'll be doing, as far as you know. He has a right, and the last time you see him before you go shouldn't be at each other's throats."

  
"I will, Wanda. Of course I will, this is too important to mess around with. Besides I need to make sure he'll provide for you... if..."

  
"Don't you dare say it, brother. You're coming back. Even if I have to drag you back myself." Wanda hissed. Pietro felt the damp on his t-shirt and smiled.

  
"Yeah you're right. I am coming back. " he leant back to look at her, offering her a small smile. "Come we should probably go and get some dinner. Father is bound to notice our mood sooner or later, and I'd rather tell him on a full stomach." he chuckled. Wanda hesitated a moment, but then nodded, walking inside with her brother, wishing that she could change the High Evolutionary's mind.


End file.
